CHAPTER XIV
A NIGHT OF TERROR
Immediately after landing Menendez and his soldiers, with their
supplies, at San Augustin, the ships of the fleet, which on account of
their size had been unable to enter the river, sailed away for Spain,
leaving only a few small vessels at anchor inside the bar. Thus
apparently all was favorable to the bold enterprise of Admiral Ribault,
who, with his six ships, and all the troops from Fort Caroline, had
determined to attack, and if possible to destroy, the newly founded
city before it could be fortified.
When he arrived off the mouth of the river the tide was so low on the
bar that his ships could not pass it. So they stood off and on,
waiting for it to rise, and the Spaniards on shore, seeing them, were
filled with great consternation. Of a sudden, almost without warning,
there came a terrible blast of wind out of the north-east. It was
followed by another and another, until such a gale was raging as had
never been seen by white men on that coast. In vain did the French
ships struggle against it, and against the huge billows that towered as
high as their tallest masts. They could do nothing against its fury,
and soon the Spaniards were filled with joy at seeing them drift
helplessly down the coast towards certain wreck and destruction.
Then Menendez made up his mind, in spite of the terrible gale, to march
overland to the attack of Fort Caroline, thus deprived of its
defenders.
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